Kanał

Released May 9, 1961

1h 36m

Drama

War

List

100%

8 Reviews

Tomatometer

93%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

During the last few days of the Warsaw Uprising following World War II, a modest group of Resistance members remains. The band must take refuge in the sewers under the orders of leader Zadra (Wisczyslaw Glinski), but it's only a matter of time before they will have to emerge. However, when they try, they are met only with intense hostility from the Nazis. Despite their attempts stay resolute through immense mental strain, it becomes increasingly apparent that they may be doomed.

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Richard Brody

New Yorker

The film turns combat-film clichs upside down.

Feb 6, 2017

Full Review

Ado Kyrou

Positif

Thus calmly and deliberately, I state: Wajda stands beside Luis Bunuel and Ingmar Bergman. He is in the line that goes from Louis Feuillade to Frank Borzage, and from Jean Vigo to Georges Franju.

Apr 5, 2022

Full Review

Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

Flames up above and smoky streams below, the inverted Hades of occupied Warsaw

Jun 23, 2014

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Wajda's second movie, set in Warsaw in 1944, is politically significant and emotionally stirring

Rated: A

Apr 5, 2011

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 4/5

Jul 4, 2005

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Christopher Null

Filmcritic.com

may very well be Wajda's finest film

Rated: 4/5

Apr 11, 2005

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Taylor L

I don't think Andrzej Wajda likes war very much. Kanał is not a very happy movie, but the Warsaw Uprising was not a very happy time. The German military, knowing that the end of the conflict (and their defeat) was lurking on the horizon, fought street by street against Polish resistance forces, leveling the city and killing hundreds of thousands of civilians in the process while the Red Army waited patiently at the city limits. Wajda presents the victims of this extermination campaign as patriots that slowly devolve in the hellish landscape of filth that they're forced into, as a small group of resistance fighters attempt to retreat deeper into Warsaw via the fetid sewer system. The group slowly dissipates and fractures, with one or two breaking off as the war above (real or imagined) slowly gets to them, until by the end they find themselves alone and mentally broken. No Victorian ideals of honor in combat, the industrialized and effecient nature of a new war has no place for those. Cramped and suffocating, Kanał is a vicious wartime film that uses relatively few bullets to convey the horrors of war, and it's beautifully shot even if most of it takes place in darkness and shit. A bleak masterpiece in human desperation and unyielding cruelty. (4/5)

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/23/23

Full Review

william k

Brilliantly staged and photographed, this tough and intense war drama compels with its director's sure hand in delivering his message, which is quite dark, nearly nihilistic.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Another brilliant study of futility of war from Andrzej Wanda.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

Full Review

andrey k

A great movie. The metaphorical representation of Dante's hell is mind-blowing. This film clearly influenced Andrei Tarkovsky with its metaphysical themes and slow tracking shots.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This atmospheric film set in the sewers during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. Similar to Rossellini's 'Rome, Open City' the film has a docu-drama feel to it lending the film great authenticity. Due to Wajda's masterful direction, the film transcends the war thriller genre and divulges into more existential aspects of war and at times harnesses an almost supernatural feel. The film has the renowned 'Polish film school' of the 1950s trademark brilliance in cinematography and as with other Wajda films is amalgamated with symbology. Although some of the acting may seem dated it can be forgiven as this style of overplaying parts was quite common at the time. The film doesn't quite reach the same brilliance as Wajda's subsequent film 'Ashes and Diamonds' but is still a film that cineastes must see.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The Polish resistance is trapped in the Warsaw ghetto trying to survive the Nazi onslaught during the genocide of the ghetto. As a last desperate resort they are given orders to retreat through the sewers. Can they survive? Nightmarish, intense and harrowing is this searing, extremely brutal film that gets a 100% critics approval rating from Polish director Andrzej Wajda. YES, it's a masterpiece but can you stomach it ?

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

Full Review

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Andrzej Wajda

Director

Teresa Izewska

Stokrotka

Tadeusz Janczar

Ens. Jacek `'Korab'`

Wisczyslaw Glinski

Lt. `'Zadra'`

Emil Karewicz

Porucznik Madry

Vladek Sheybal

Kompozytor Michal

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Synopsis

During the last few days of the Warsaw Uprising following World War II, a modest group of Resistance members remains. The band must take refuge in the sewers under the orders of leader Zadra (Wisczyslaw Glinski), but it's only a matter of time before they will have to emerge. However, when they try, they are met only with intense hostility from the Nazis. Despite their attempts stay resolute through immense mental strain, it becomes increasingly apparent that they may be doomed.

Director: Andrzej Wajda
Screenwriter: Jerzy Stefan Stawinski
Distributor: Kingsley-International Pictures Inc.
Production Co: Zespół Filmowy "Kadr"
Genre: Drama, War
Original Language: German
Release Date (Theaters): May 9, 1961, Original
Release Date (DVD): Apr 26, 2005
Runtime: 1h 36m